


Father's Day

by AnnaOnTheMoon



Series: Stargazer Era [23]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Captain Picard Day, Father's Day, Gen, Jack Crusher's Death, Stargazer era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 01:10:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19240789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaOnTheMoon/pseuds/AnnaOnTheMoon
Summary: Wesley brings Jean-Luc a present.





	Father's Day

**Author's Note:**

> It's also #CaptainPicardDay!

Wesley paused outside Captain Picard’s office.  He held the handmade card and a decorated cup made out of an old cup and dried macaroni tightly against his body.  He had painted it especially for the Captain in art class -  red and black, like his uniform, and four macaronis painted gold for his Captain pips.  Beverly stood around the corner, with her fist shoved against her mouth, trying to contain her tears as she watched her six-year-old.  Wesley had asked his mother if he could go see the Captain today to bring him a present, since the Captain was still grounded after the accident that had taken her husband’s life.

 _“Come.”_   The door slid open to the office Jean-Luc had been assigned at command, and Beverly could hear his joyful “Hello, Wesley, what brings you here today?”  before the door slid shut.  She would give Wesley ten minutes before joining them in the office, but Wesley had asked to do this on his own.

Wesley stared up at the man.  Jean-Luc came out from behind his desk to kneel down in front of him. 

“Are you alright?  Is Bev – is your mother with you?”  Wesley nodded his head and wordlessly held out the card made from sugar paper and glitter and the cup.  “Are these for me?”  Another nod.  Jean-Luc smiled and moved over to the small sofa in his office, and pulled the small boy into his lap.  “Can I open the card?”  Wesley, unusually silent, nodded again. 

Jean-Luc looked at the front of the card.   It was decorated to look like there was a starship in the sky, and on the ground there were two figures – one tall man in red, presumably him, and a smaller boy wearing blue.  “This is a very nice drawing, Wes.  Is this the two of us?”  Jean-Luc chuckled when Wesley nodded for the fourth time.  “Are you ok? You’re usually more talkative...”  He moved to press a hand against the boy’s forehead to check for a fever and wondered if he should page Beverly.  It wouldn’t have been the first time that he wandered away from her lab where he was supposed to be colouring or playing while she did a bit of extra work.  He almost always wound up at Jean-Luc’s office, and after letting Beverly know he was ok, Wesley would spend the afternoon with Jean-Luc. 

Wesley pressed back against Jean-Luc’s chest. “’M fine,” he whispered. 

Jean-Luc nodded and opened the card.  ‘Happy Father’s Day!’  was written in the neat script of an adult, most likely his teacher or one of the aides.  But underneath, in Wesley’s large handwriting was a big childish heart with an ‘I’ above it and a ‘U’ below, and then his ‘signature’ – W3sl3y CrUsh3r – with all his E’s drawn uppercase and backwards.  Tears sprung to Jean-Luc’s eyes and he kissed the top of Wesley’s head.

“I love you, too, Wesley. Shall we put this on my desk?”

“Yeah!”  Wesley clamoured off Jean-Luc’s lap and carried the cup over to the desk.  Jean-Luc dumped his old cup on the top of the desk and said “oops,” making Wesley giggle, and threw the nondescript holder in the reclimator. 

“Can you help me put my stylus and pens away?”  Wesley grinned and picked up the first stylus and put it into the cup he decorated. 

“You threw out your cup.”  Jean-Luc grinned.

“I did.  Well, I don’t _need_ two cups, do I?  I don’t have that many styluses!”  Wesley grinned.

“You like it?” 

“I _love_ it.  And you even put my Captain pips on it.  Thank you.”  Wesley beamed.  His grin became even larger when Jean-Luc proudly propped up Wesley’s card against the side of his monitor.  The task of displaying his presents done,  Jean-Luc retrieved a snack for the boy from the replicator.

The doorchime went off, and Jean-Luc grinned at Wesley. “Is that your mother?”

“Uh-huh.  I told Mommy I wanted to bring you your Father’s Day present all by myself!” 

“Should we let her in?” 

“Yeah, I guess so.”  Jean-Luc grinned and ordered the door to open.  Beverly walked in and took in the sight in front of her with tears in her eyes.  Wesley was sitting in one of the chairs, swinging his legs and dunking a cookie in a glass mug full of milk.  Jean-Luc had a matching glass – his filled with hot tea – and a cookie resting on his desk.  

“Hi Mommy!”  Jean-Luc looked at Beverly and grinned. “Hi, Mommy,”  he echoed Wesley’s greeting.  Beverly grinned back.

“Did you see the beautiful card and stylus cup Wesley gave me for Father’s day?” 

“I did.  Are you...ok with this?”  Jean-Luc nodded and motioned for Beverly to come behind the desk.  He wrapped an arm around her waist. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?  I’m...honoured that Wesley sees me as a father figure.  I don’t want to replace Jack in his life – no one can – but I hope as Wesley grows up he knows he can come to me anytime he needs fatherly advice.”  Beverly smiled a watery smile and leaned down to press a chaste kiss against his lips.

“Thank you.”

“No, Beverly, thank _you_ for allowing me to remain in your lives.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was really emotional for me to write. My father passed away when I was 13, and Star Trek TNG was on TV. Captain Picard became the father figure I needed and I suddenly understood Wesley.


End file.
